Method and device for a multi-touch based correction of a handwriting sentence system

ABSTRACT

A method and device is for a multi-touch based correction of a handwriting sentence system. The method includes receiving touch inputs, generating interpreted input data as a function of the touch inputs, and displaying the interpreted input data on a display device. A request to correct a portion of the interpreted input data then switches to a correction mode. During the correction mode, a correction user interface is displayed on the display device, a gesture is received so setting data is determined as a function of a first disposition of the gesture, the setting data indicating a type of correction to be applied to the portion of the interpreted inputs, a correction data is determined as a function of a second disposition of the gesture, and the portion of the interpreted input data is corrected as a function of the touch input, the setting data, and the correction data.

FIELD OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present disclosure relates generally to handwriting recognitionsystems and more particularly to making corrections for a sentencehandwriting recognition system.

BACKGROUND

An electronic device may be configured with a variety of input devices.For example, the electronic device may include a conventional data inputdevice such as a keyboard. In another example, the input device mayinclude a touch input receiving device such as a touch screen display ora touch pad that receives inputs for selected functionalities. In yetanother example, the input device may include a specialized touch screenin which a stylus is required to receive inputs.

When the electronic device includes a touch input receiving device(e.g., touch screen display), it may be configured to further receiveinputs such as those that are handwriting related (e.g., letters,numbers, etc.) when a keypad is not shown thereon. Conventional touchinput receiving devices may include a sentence handwriting recognitionsystem but it is impossible to achieve as high of an accuracy as acharacter handwriting system. The degradation in accuracy is usuallycaused by segmentation errors and/or indistinguishable characters.Conventional correction methods are often not natural and requires adeletion of wrong characters and subsequently inputting correct ones.Therefore, this process may substantially increase an amount of timerequired to obtain a sentence that is to be entered.

Accordingly, there is a need for a method and device for providing aninterface to make corrections in a sentence handwriting recognitionsystem.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

The accompanying figures, where like reference numerals refer toidentical or functionally similar elements throughout the separateviews, together with the detailed description below, are incorporated inand form part of the specification, and serve to further illustrateembodiments of concepts that include the claimed invention, and explainvarious principles and advantages of those embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic device in accordance withsome embodiments.

FIG. 2 is a displayed entry of a sentence handwriting recognition systemin accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 3 is a user interface for a selected portion of the displayed entryin FIG. 2 in accordance with some embodiments.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method for correction in a sentencehandwriting recognition system in accordance with some embodiments.

Skilled artisans will appreciate that elements in the figures areillustrated for simplicity and clarity and have not necessarily beendrawn to scale. For example, the dimensions of some of the elements inthe figures may be exaggerated relative to other elements to help toimprove understanding of embodiments of the present invention.

The apparatus and method components have been represented whereappropriate by conventional symbols in the drawings, showing only thosespecific details that are pertinent to understanding the embodiments ofthe present invention so as not to obscure the disclosure with detailsthat will be readily apparent to those of ordinary skill in the arthaving the benefit of the description herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

A method and device is for a multi-touch based correction of ahandwriting sentence system. The method comprises receiving at least onetouch input via a touch sensitive display device. The method comprisesgenerating interpreted input data as a function of the at least onetouch input. The method comprises displaying the interpreted input dataon the display device. The method comprises receiving a request tocorrect at least a portion of the interpreted input data. The methodcomprises switching to a correction mode. During the correction mode,the method further displays a correction user interface on at least aportion of the display device, receives a gesture via the correctionuser interface, determine a setting data as a function of a firstdisposition of the gesture, the setting data indicating a type ofcorrection to be applied to the portion of the interpreted inputs,determine a correction data as a function of a second disposition of thegesture, and correct the portion of the interpreted input data as afunction of the at least one touch input, the setting data, and thecorrection data.

The exemplary embodiments may be further understood with reference tothe following description and the appended drawings, wherein likeelements are referred to with the same reference numerals. The exemplaryembodiments describe a sentence handwriting recognition application(SHWR) for a display including an input device. Specifically, the SHWRallows a user to enter finger gestures upon loading a correction userinterface for a section of a sentence already inputted with a furtherinput entered in the correction user interface that corrects an errorpresent in the section of the sentence. The SHWR, the correctioninterface, the finger gesture, the setting, the input to be entered, anda related method will be discussed in further detail below.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an electronic device 100 in accordance withan exemplary embodiment of the present invention. The device 100 may beany electronic device such as a portable device (e.g., smart-phone, PDA,laptop, etc.) or a stationary device (e.g., desktop, copy machine,network server, etc.). The device 100 may include a processor 105, amemory arrangement 110, an input device 115, a display 120, and a touchreceiver 125. It should be noted that the device 100 may include avariety of other conventional components such as a transceiver, a powersupply, ports to connect to other devices, etc.

The processor 105 may provide conventional functionalities for thedevice 100. For example, the device 100 may include a plurality ofapplications that are executed on the processor 105 such as a wordprocessing application or a web browser. The processor 105 may alsoreceive gestures entered via the input device 115 and/or the display120. The memory 110 may also provide conventional functionalities forthe device 100. For example, the memory 110 may store data related tooperations performed by the processor 105. It should be noted that thememory 110 may be any memory arrangement configured to store data. Aswill be described in further detail below, the memory 110 may also storereceived touch inputs and preset gestures that indicate a setting and acorresponding action to be taken for a correction. The device 100 mayinclude the SHWR which may be a program executed on the processor 105and stored in the memory 110.

The input device 115 may be any conventional input component such as akeypad, a mouse, etc. It should be noted that although the device 100includes a display configured to receive finger gestures thereon, aconventional input device 115 may also be provided. The display 120 maybe any conventional display that is configured to display data to theuser. Furthermore, the display 120 may be configured to receive fingergestures to enable a user to enter inputs via a touch interface.Specifically, the display 120 may represent any touch sensitive displaydevice that is capable of receiving an input and/or showing data. Theinput may be received in a variety of different ways such as with heatfrom a user's finger(s), contact from a user's finger(s), a stylus, etc.The touch receiver 125 may be configured to receive the touch inputsfrom the display 120. It should be noted that the finger gestures may beprovided via a variety of manners such as a tactile contact, a heatcontact, a combination thereof, etc.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, thedevice 100 may be configured with a conventional handwriting recognitionsystem (HWR). Accordingly, the display 120 may receive a variety ofdifferent finger gestures that the HWR interprets to generate acharacter to be entered. Specifically, the finger gestures may be atouch input that generates interpreted input data (e.g., letters,numbers, etc.) as a function of the touch input entered by a user. Thedisplay 120 will subsequently show the interpreted input data. After asequence of characters are entered, the user of the device 100 mayutilize the SHWR in accordance with some embodiments. Specifically, theSHWR may enable the user to make corrections from the sequence ofcharacters that form a sentence. It should be noted that the term“sentence” refers to any group of characters. For example, the term“sentence” may include a group of words that form a complete grammaticalsentence, a group of words that form a phrase, any word including atleast one character, a single or series of numbers, a single or seriesof punctuation marks and/or symbols, a combination thereof, etc. Thatis, the “sentence” may refer to any string of characters that may alsoinclude spaces.

According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, thecorrection feature may be activated for a word(s) in a sentence that hasbeen input. As illustrated in FIG. 2, the sentence 200 may be shown onthe display 120 and recite “Jack Be Mmble.” The user may select the word205 reciting “Mmble” using any conventional form of selection such asvia the input device 115, a highlighting feature of the touch receiver125, etc. It should be noted that the selection of one word is onlyexemplary and the selection may be a portion of a word, more than oneword, etc. The selection may bring up a menu 210. According to theexemplary embodiments of the present invention, the menu 210 may includean option “Correct” in addition to conventional options such as “Copy,”“Paste,” “Cut,” and “Cancel.” When the “Correct” feature is selectedfrom the menu 210, a correction mode may be switched thereto and acorrection user interface may be shown on the display 120. Asillustrated in FIG. 3, the correction user interface may include thetouch inputs 300 as entered by a user (e.g., handwriting electronicinks, E-ink, etc.), the interpretation 305 by the touch receiver 125 forthe touch inputs, a backspace 310, and an enter 315. As discussed above,the touch inputs 300 as entered by the user may be stored in the memory110. Thus, when the selection for the word 205 is selected, the touchinputs 300 for the word 205 may be retrieved from the memory and shownon the display 120.

Once the correction user interface is shown on the display 120, thedisplay 120 may receive a variety of different finger gestures thatindicate a setting and a resultant action to be taken for the word(s)and/or a character(s) in the selected portion. As will be described infurther detail below, the finger gestures may be used to delete acharacter, correct a single character into multiple characters, combinemultiple characters into a single character, insert a space betweencharacters, and change a case of a character. Once all corrections inthe selected word 205 is performed, the enter key 315 may be used (e.g.,touched, tapped, etc.) to indicate that the correction is complete.Subsequently, the correction user interface may be closed and acorrected sentence may be shown on the display 120.

It is noted that the following descriptions for the corrections that areenabled with the correction user interface assumes that the word 205 hasbeen selected from the sentence 200. Furthermore, the correction userinterface is being shown on the display 120 with the touch inputs 300and the interpretation 305 as shown in FIG. 3.

In a first correction according to the exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, a deletion of a character may be made. As describedabove, the correction user interface may include a backspace 310. Thus,when the selected portion (e.g., word 205) of the sentence 200 includesa character that is extraneous, the user may select one of thecorresponding touch inputs 300 (e.g., one-finger gesture tapping thecharacter box) to initially indicate a setting data which corresponds toa deletion. The selected touch input may be highlighted in asubstantially similar manner as the selection of the word 205 in thesentence 200 as shown in FIG. 2. Subsequently, the backspace 310 may beselected (e.g., tapped) to delete the selected touch input whichindicates a correction data which corresponds to which character(s) isto be deleted. When the enter key 315 is selected to complete thecorrections and close the correction user interface, the sentence 200may be updated with the word 205 having a deleted character.

In a second correction according to the exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, a correction of a single character into multiplecharacters may be made. Specifically, a split-over combination error maybe corrected. As discussed above, the touch receiver 125 maymisinterpret a touch input and display an incorrect character. Forexample, a common misinterpretation for English inputs is an upper case“N” followed by an upper or lower case “i”. The touch receiver 125 maymisinterpret this permutation as an upper case “M”, such as the caseshown in FIGS. 2 and 3. In another example, Chinese characters may oftenbe misinterpreted when separate characters are intended but the touchreceiver combines them into a single character. According to theexemplary embodiments of the present invention, the SHWR may allow atwo-finger gesture that is placed substantially within a single touchinput which indicates a setting data which corresponds to the split-overcombination error. A subsequent separation action that increases thedistance between the two fingers may indicate a correction data that thecharacter is to be reinterpreted such as reading the touch input againand make a further determination. For example, when two fingers from theuser are sensed in the first touch input “Ni” in FIG. 3, the SWHR mayreinterpret the touch input. Thus, the “M” character may be determinedto actually be the “N” and “i” or a single Chinese character should beseparated into two characters. Therefore, when the touch receiver 125receives a two-finger gesture within a single touch input followed by aseparation movement between the two fingers, the character originallyinterpreted may be separated for correction.

In a third correction according to the exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, a correction of multiple characters into a singlecharacter may be made. Specifically, a combine-over segmentation errormay be corrected. As discussed above, the touch receiver 125 maymisinterpret a touch input and display an incorrect character in anthermanner. For example, a common misinterpretation for English inputs isbetween a numerical “13” input and an upper case “B”. Specifically, thetouch receiver 125 may misinterpret an upper case “B” with the number“13.” In another example, an opposite error for Chinese characters asdiscussed above with the split-over combination error may occur when asingle character is intended but the touch receiver separates them intomultiple characters. According to the exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, the SHWR may allow a two-finger gesture that isplaced with each finger substantially within respective, adjacent touchinputs which indicates a setting data for the combine-over segmentationerror. A subsequent merging action that decreases the distance betweenthe two fingers may indicate that the character is to be reinterpretedsuch as reading the touch input again and make a further determination,thereby indicating a correction data for the combine-over segmentationerror. For example, when two fingers from the user are sensed with onefinger in the touch input for the number “1” and another finger in thetouch input for the number “3”, the SWHR may reinterpret the touchinput. Thus, the “13” character may be determined to actually be theupper case “B” or multiple Chinese characters should be combined into asingle character. Therefore, when the touch receiver 125 receives atwo-finger gesture where each finger is sensed on respective, adjacenttouch inputs followed by a merging movement between the two fingers, thecharacter originally interpreted may be combined or reinterpreted forcorrection.

In a fourth correction according to the exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, an insertion of a space between characters may bemade. Specifically, a missing space error may be corrected. With thiserror, the touch receiver 125 may omit a touch input intended to be aspace (e.g., a touch input that is not long enough) or may misinterpretthe touch inputs to inadvertently not include an intended space.According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, theSHWR may allow a two-finger gesture that is placed with each fingersubstantially within respective, adjacent touch inputs to indicate asetting data for the insertion of a space. In this manner, it is assumedthat a space is absent or an additional space is required. A subsequentseparating action that increases the distance between the two fingersmay indicate that a space is to be inserted therebetween therebyindicating the correction data for the insertion of the space. Forexample, when two fingers from the user are sensed with one finger inthe touch input for the character “l” in the word 205 and another fingerin the touch input for the character “e” followed by a separatingaction, the SWHR may insert a space therebetween. Therefore, when thetouch receiver 125 receives a two-finger gesture where each finger issensed on respective, adjacent touch inputs followed by a separatingmovement between the two fingers, a space is inserted between theformerly adjacent characters. As discussed above with the split-overcombination error, a substantially similar action is performed. However,the touch receiver 125 may distinguish between these corrections as thetwo-finger gesture is applied to a single character or to two separatecharacters.

In a fifth correction according to the exemplary embodiments of thepresent invention, a change of a case of a character may be made.Specifically, a similar symbol recognition error such as upper/lowercase may be corrected. English inputs may include a variety of commonerrors between upper case letters and lower case letters or punctuation.For example, an upper case “O” and a lower case “o” may havesubstantially similar finger gestures for character input with thedifference being in size of the input. The touch receiver 125 maymisinterpret between this error. Other common letters having thisproblem are “z”, “s”, “k”, “m”, “p”, “u”, “v”, “w”, “x”, and “y”.According to the exemplary embodiments of the present invention, theSHWR may allow a three-finger gesture that is placed with each fingersubstantially within a single touch input to indicate the setting datafor the symbol recognition error. A subsequent increasing action thatincreases the distance between the three fingers may indicate that thecharacter is to be changed to upper case while a subsequent decreasingaction that decreases the distance between the three fingers mayindicate that the character is to be changed to lower case therebyindicating the correction data for the symbol recognition error. Forexample, when three fingers from the user are sensed in the touch inputfor the lower case letter “m” in the selected word 205 followed by anincreasing action, the character may be changed to an upper case letter“M”. Therefore, when the touch receiver 125 receives a three-fingergesture all substantially within a single touch input followed by anincreasing or a decreasing movement between the three fingers, thecharacter originally interpreted may be changed to a corresponding uppercase or lower case.

It should be noted that the correction user interface may immediatelyshow the correction changes being made. That is, a dynamic correctionfeature may be utilized for the correction user interface. Thus, when achange is made, for example, to the first character “M” of the word 205for separation into the characters “N” and “i,” the correction userinterface may be updated immediately to show the touch inputs 305 as“N,” “i,” “m,” “b,” “l,” and “e” while the interpretation 305 is alsoshown as “N,” “i,” “m,” “b,” “l,” and “e.” Accordingly, any furtherchanges may be made with a single correction user interface. Forexample, the upper case of the first character “N” may be changed tolower case “n” as described above using a three-finger gesture thatdecreases a distance. However, it should also be noted that changesbeing made in the correction user interface may be shown only aftercompleting a first set of corrections. For example, a single correctionmay be made for each character. Then, upon closing the correction userinterface, the sentence 200 may be updated with the change and shown onthe display 120. Should a further correction be necessary, a selectionmay be made of the updated sentence and another correction userinterface may be shown on the display 120.

It should also be noted that the correction user interface may includefurther finger gestures that correspond to other actions to be taken onthe selected portion of the sentence. For example, subsequent to theinsertion of a space as described above, a further action may entail theaddition of a new character within the created space. A prompt may bedisplayed with a query as to whether the created space is to insert anew character. If affirmative, the correction user interface may displaya new character box for the touch input to be received.

It should further be noted that the disposition of the finger gesturesubstantially within a single character or adjacent characters may beinterpreted by the SHWR accordingly. For example, when multiple fingersare disposed within a single character box, it is possible that acontacting area of the fingers on the display 120 may exceed theboundaries of the box. However, the SWHR may determine, for example,through a majority of the contacting area whether the finger gesture isintended to be within a single character or whether each finger of thefinger gesture is intended to be contacting adjacent characters.

FIG. 4 is a flowchart of a method 400 for correction in the SHWR inaccordance with an exemplary embodiment of the present invention. Themethod 400 will be described with reference to the device 100 of FIG. 1and its components as well as the sentence 200 of FIG. 2 and thecorrection user interface of FIG. 3. The method 400 incorporates thepossible finger gestures for correction in the correction user interfaceas described above. However, it should again be noted that the fingergestures described above and herein are only exemplary and the SHWR ofthe present invention may include further finger gestures.

In step 405, the touch inputs for a sentence are received on the display120. The touch receiver 125 may interpret the touch inputs and generatecorresponding inputs to be shown on the display 120. In step 410, thetouch inputs are stored in the memory 110. As discussed above, the touchinputs may be retrieved from the memory 110 when the correction userinterface is activated.

In step 415, a determination is made whether the sentence that has beeninput requires correction. If no corrections are required, the method400 ends. However, if corrections are necessary, the method 400 proceedsto step 420. In step 420, a selection from the sentence is received. Forexample, in FIG. 2, the word 205 is selected from the sentence 200.Subsequently, in step 425, the menu 210 is opened to provide thepossible options therein. Since a correction is required as determinedin step 415, the “correct” option may be selected to enter a correctionmode. Thereafter, the correction user interface may be opened.

In step 430, a determination is made whether a deletion is to be made.As discussed above, the correction user interface may include abackspace 310 to provide the deletion option. If the determinationindicates that a deletion is to be made (e.g., selection of one of thetouch inputs 300), the method 400 proceeds to step 435 where a selectionis received from the word 205 as displayed in the correction userinterface shown in FIG. 3. Upon receiving the selection, the backspace315 may be selected to receive the backspace command so that in step436, the selected touch input is deleted.

Returning to step 430, when the correction to be made is not a deletion,the method 400 proceeds to step 440. In step 440, a determination ismade whether a two-finger gesture is received. When a two-finger gestureis received, several possible corrections are possible. Thus, the method400 continues to step 445 in which the two-finger gesture is received.

In step 450, a determination is made whether the two-finger gesture isreceived in the same character box or touch input as shown in FIG. 3. Ifthe two-finger gesture is substantially within a single touch input, themethod 400 proceeds to step 455 where the two-finger gesture with anincreasing movement is received. As discussed above, this two-fingergesture is to provide a correction that is related to a split-overcombination error. Thus, in step 460, the characters to be split aredetermined and subsequently updated.

Returning to step 450, if the two-finger gesture is not for a singletouch input, the method 400 proceeds to step 465. In step 465, thecharacter boxes or touch inputs that are selected from each finger ofthe two-finger gesture are determined. As discussed above, each fingerof the two-finger gesture may be present on adjacent touch inputs.

In step 470, a determination is made whether a combination of charactersis to be performed. If the error is related to a combination ofcharacters, the method 400 continues to step 475 where the two-fingergesture is followed by a merging motion. As discussed above, thisindicates that the error is a combine-over segmentation error and thetwo touch inputs are reinterpreted to provide an updated, singlecharacter. If the error is not related to a combination of characters,the method 400 continues from step 470 to step 476 where the two-fingergesture is followed by an increasing motion. As discussed above, thisindicates that the error is an omitted space and a space is insertedbetween the selected, adjacent touch inputs.

Returning to step 440, if the gesture is not a two-finger gesture, themethod 400 continues to step 480 in which a three-finger gesture isreceived. Upon receiving the three-finger gesture, the SWHR maydetermine that a character is to be changed from an upper case to alower case, vice versa, or a symbol (e.g., punctuation) is to bechanged. Thus, if the three-finger gesture is followed by an increasingmotion, the method 400 proceeds to step 490 in which the character ischanged from a lower case to an upper case. If the three-finger gestureis followed by a decreasing motion, the method 400 proceeds to step 491in which the character is changed from an upper case to a lower case.

As discussed above, the method 400 may include additional steps. Forexample, after each possible route for a correction, a determination maybe made whether further corrections are to be made. In this manner,multiple corrections may be made concurrently from a single correctionuser interface. In another example, after each possible route for acorrection, a further step may be included to update the correction userinterface with the correction being made when a dynamic correction userinterface is provided.

The exemplary embodiments of the present invention provide a sentencehandwriting recognition system that has a correction user interface thatmay be utilized for a selected portion of a sentence. The correctionuser interface may include multiple configurations of finger gesturesthat are substantially different from each other that the recognitionmay indicate a setting and a corresponding action to be taken. In afirst example, when a deletion is to be made, a selection may be madeand receiving a backspace command located on the correction userinterface indicates that the selected touch input is to be deleted. In asecond example, when a split-over combination error is to be corrected,a two-finger gesture that is substantially within a single touch inputand followed by an increasing motion provides a reinterpretation of thetouch input, thereby generating two separate characters from anoriginally determined single character. In a third example, when acombine-over segmentation error is to be corrected, a two-finger gesturein which each finger is on respective, adjacent touch inputs andfollowed by a merging motion provides a reinterpretation of the touchinput, thereby generating a single character from an originallydetermined separate characters. In a fourth example, when a spacemissing error is to be corrected, a two-finger gesture in which eachfinger is on respective, adjacent touch inputs and followed by anincreasing motion allows for an insertion of a space between theoriginally determined adjacent touch inputs. In a fifth example, when acase for a character is to be corrected, a three-finger gesture in whicheach finger is substantially within a single character and followed byan increasing or a decreasing motion allows for the case of thecharacter to be changed. Specifically, an increasing motion from thethree-finger gesture changes the character from a lower case to an uppercase while a decreasing motion from the three-finger gesture changes thecharacter from an upper case to a lower case.

In the foregoing specification, specific embodiments have beendescribed. However, one of ordinary skill in the art appreciates thatvarious modifications and changes can be made without departing from thescope of the invention as set forth in the claims below. Accordingly,the specification and figures are to be regarded in an illustrativerather than a restrictive sense, and all such modifications are intendedto be included within the scope of present teachings.

The benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any element(s) thatmay cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become morepronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essentialfeatures or elements of any or all the claims. The invention is definedsolely by the appended claims including any amendments made during thependency of this application and all equivalents of those claims asissued.

Moreover in this document, relational terms such as first and second,top and bottom, and the like may be used solely to distinguish oneentity or action from another entity or action without necessarilyrequiring or implying any actual such relationship or order between suchentities or actions. The terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “has”,“having,” “includes”, “including,” “contains”, “containing” or any othervariation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion, suchthat a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises, has,includes, contains a list of elements does not include only thoseelements but may include other elements not expressly listed or inherentto such process, method, article, or apparatus. An element proceeded by“comprises . . . a”, “has . . . a”, “includes . . . a”, “contains . . .a” does not, without more constraints, preclude the existence ofadditional identical elements in the process, method, article, orapparatus that comprises, has, includes, contains the element. The terms“a” and “an” are defined as one or more unless explicitly statedotherwise herein. The terms “substantially”, “essentially”,“approximately”, “about” or any other version thereof, are defined asbeing close to as understood by one of ordinary skill in the art, and inone non-limiting embodiment the term is defined to be within 10%, inanother embodiment within 5%, in another embodiment within 1% and inanother embodiment within 0.5%. The term “coupled” as used herein isdefined as connected, although not necessarily directly and notnecessarily mechanically. A device or structure that is “configured” ina certain way is configured in at least that way, but may also beconfigured in ways that are not listed.

It will be appreciated that some embodiments may be comprised of one ormore generic or specialized processors (or “processing devices”) such asmicroprocessors, digital signal processors, customized processors andfield programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and unique stored programinstructions (including both software and firmware) that control the oneor more processors to implement, in conjunction with certainnon-processor circuits, some, most, or all of the functions of themethod and/or apparatus described herein. Alternatively, some or allfunctions could be implemented by a state machine that has no storedprogram instructions, or in one or more application specific integratedcircuits (ASICs), in which each function or some combinations of certainof the functions are implemented as custom logic. Of course, acombination of the two approaches could be used.

Moreover, an embodiment can be implemented as a computer-readablestorage medium having computer readable code stored thereon forprogramming a computer (e.g., comprising a processor) to perform amethod as described and claimed herein. Examples of suchcomputer-readable storage mediums include, but are not limited to, ahard disk, a CD-ROM, an optical storage device, a magnetic storagedevice, a ROM (Read Only Memory), a PROM (Programmable Read OnlyMemory), an EPROM (Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory), an EEPROM(Electrically Erasable Programmable Read Only Memory) and a Flashmemory. Further, it is expected that one of ordinary skill,notwithstanding possibly significant effort and many design choicesmotivated by, for example, available time, current technology, andeconomic considerations, when guided by the concepts and principlesdisclosed herein will be readily capable of generating such softwareinstructions and programs and ICs with minimal experimentation.

The Abstract of the Disclosure is provided to allow the reader toquickly ascertain the nature of the technical disclosure. It issubmitted with the understanding that it will not be used to interpretor limit the scope or meaning of the claims. In addition, in theforegoing Detailed Description, it can be seen that various features aregrouped together in various embodiments for the purpose of streamliningthe disclosure. This method of disclosure is not to be interpreted asreflecting an intention that the claimed embodiments require morefeatures than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as thefollowing claims reflect, inventive subject matter lies in less than allfeatures of a single disclosed embodiment. Thus the following claims arehereby incorporated into the Detailed Description, with each claimstanding on its own as a separately claimed subject matter.

We claim:
 1. An electronic device, comprising: a touch sensitive displaydevice configured to receive at least one touch input; a processorgenerating interpreted inputs as a function of the touch inputs; and amemory arrangement storing at least the at least one touch input and theinterpreted inputs, wherein the display device is further configured toshow the interpreted inputs and to receive a request to correct at leasta portion of the interpreted inputs, the processor switching to acorrection mode, wherein, during the correction mode, a correction userinterface is displayed on at least a portion of the display device, agesture being received via the correction user interface, furtherwherein the gesture is a multi-touch input comprising a multi-fingergesture, and wherein the processor determines a setting data as afunction of a first disposition of the multi-finger gesture, the settingdata indicating a portion of the interpreted inputs to which one of aset of types of correction is to be applied, the processor furtherdetermining a correction data as a function of a second disposition ofthe multi-finger gesture so that the portion of the interpreted inputsis corrected as a function of the at least one touch input, the settingdata, and the correction data, wherein the set of types of correctioncomprises: a separation to correct a split-over combination error; and acombination to correct a combine-over segmentation error.
 2. Theelectronic device of claim 1, wherein the separation is identified via atwo-finger gesture wherein each finger is disposed substantially withina single one of the touch inputs in the first disposition, and thefingers are separated in the second disposition.
 3. The electronicdevice of claim 1, wherein the combination is identified via atwo-finger gesture wherein each finger is disposed substantially withintwo adjacent touch inputs in the first disposition, and the fingers arebrought together in the second disposition.
 4. The electronic device ofclaim 1, wherein the set of types of correction further comprises: asymbol correction identified via a three-finger gesture in which eachfinger is substantially disposed within a single one of the touch inputsin the first disposition, and the three-finger gesture comprises aseparation of each finger from each other and a merging of each fingerto each other.
 5. The electronic device of claim 4, wherein theseparation of each finger from each other for the three-finger gestureis to change the single character from a lower case to an upper case andthe merging of each finger to each other for the three-finger gesture isto change the single character from an upper case to a lower case. 6.The electronic device of claim 1, wherein the correction user interfaceis launched upon choosing the portion of the interpreted inputs andopening a menu including an option for the launching of the correctionuser interface.
 7. The electronic device of claim 1, wherein thecorrection user interface includes at least the interpreted input dataand the at least one touch input as entered by a user.
 8. A method,comprising: receiving at least one touch input via a touch sensitivedisplay device; generating interpreted input data as a function of theat least one touch input; displaying the interpreted input data on thedisplay device; receiving a request to correct at least a portion of theinterpreted input data; switching to a correction mode; and during thecorrection mode, performing the following sub-steps: displaying acorrection user interface on at least a portion of the display device;receiving a gesture via the correction user interface, wherein thegesture is a multi-touch input comprising a multi-finger gesture;determining a setting data as a function of a first disposition of themulti-finger gesture, the setting data indicating a portion of theinterpreted inputs to which one of a set of types of correction is to beapplied; determining a correction data as a function of a seconddisposition of the multi-finger gesture; and correcting the portion ofthe interpreted input data as a function of the at least one touchinput, the setting data, and the correction data, wherein the set oftypes of correction comprises: a separation to correct a split-overcombination error; and a combination to correct a combine-oversegmentation error.
 9. The method of claim 8, wherein the separation isidentified via a two-finger gesture wherein each finger is disposedsubstantially within a single one of the touch inputs in the firstdisposition, and the fingers are separated in the second disposition.10. The method of claim 8, wherein the combination is identified via atwo-finger gesture wherein each finger is disposed substantially withintwo adjacent touch inputs in the first disposition, and the fingers arebrought together in the second disposition.
 11. The method of claim 8,wherein the set of types of correction further comprises: a symbolcorrection identified via a three-finger gesture in which each finger issubstantially disposed within a single one of the touch inputs in thefirst disposition, and the three-finger gesture comprises a separationof each finger from each other and a merging of each finger to eachother.
 12. The method of claim 11, wherein the separation of each fingerfrom each other for the three-finger gesture is to change the singlecharacter from a lower case to an upper case and the merging of eachfinger to each other for the three-finger gesture is to change thesingle character from an upper case to a lower case.
 13. The method ofclaim 8, wherein the correction user interface includes at least theinterpreted input data and the at least one touch input as entered by auser.
 14. A non-transitory computer readable storage medium including aset of instructions executable by a processor, the set of instructionsoperable to: receive at least one touch input via a touch sensitivedisplay device; generate interpreted input data as a function of the atleast one touch input; display the interpreted input data on the displaydevice; receive a request to correct at least a portion of theinterpreted input data; switch to a correction mode; and during thecorrection mode, the set of instructions operable to perform thefollowing sub-steps: display a correction user interface on at least aportion of the display device; receive a gesture via the correction userinterface, wherein the gesture is a multi-touch input comprising amulti-finger gesture; determine a setting data as a function of a firstdisposition of the multi-finger gesture, the setting data indicating aportion of the interpreted inputs to which one of a set of types ofcorrection is to be applied; determine a correction data as a functionof a second disposition of the multi-finger gesture; and correct theportion of the interpreted input data as a function of the at least onetouch input, the setting data, and the correction data, wherein the setof types of correction comprises: a separation to correct a split-overcombination error; and a combination to correct a combine-oversegmentation error.